25

"Why are we doing this again?" Katherine held in a groan as her sweaty curls that were tied into a messy ponytail bounced behind her. Katherine hated sweating. She especially hated jogging. She didn't know how Elijah had convinced her to do both at the ungodly hour of eight AM on Saturday morning.

Saturdays were for sleeping in and having brunch, not jogging with what seemed like half of New York City. The sad thing was that Elijah could actually run faster than her and she, not used to jogging had to practically leap twice to catch up to him.

"Why can't I just diet and avoid cookies like I usually do?" she wiped the sweat off her brow.

"Because diets aren't healthy." He chided her as they continued jogging (well, Elijah jogged while Katherine limped at snail pace besides him) "Besides you love cookies."

"Not what they do to my thighs and my butt." Katherine scoffed as she readjusted her hat and stopped. "Believe me a pack of Chips Ahoy cookies is not worth it, ok five minute break. I'm exhausted."

"We barely started," Elijah reminded her as he wrapped his arms around her and playfully patted her butt. "It if makes you feel any better I like your butt just the way it is."

Katherine whacked him with her water bottle and tried to keep from smiling. "Elijah, people are watching."

"Katherine? Oh, crap Katherine is that you?"

Elijah felt Katherine stiffened. Who was that? It couldn't possibly be-Katherine would have preferred the devil himself. Katherine slowly turned around and tried to plaster a smile across her face which came out looking more like a grimace. "Mason . . . hi."

A tall, good looking guy with blue eyes and curly brown hair took his earphones off and smiled at Katherine. "The one and only. Good to see you, Kat. How you've been?"

"Fine." She said faintly. She hadn't spoke to Mason since they broke up. Last, she had heard the guy had moved to Los Angeles chasing after a newbie model. Elijah cleared his throat. "Oh, Mason this is my boyfriend, Elijah. Elijah, this is my ex-boyfriend-I mean Mason Lockwood."

Mason offered his hand. "Nice to meet you, man."

Elijah didn't shook it. "Nice to meet you."

Mason dropped it, getting the message. "Well, good to see you. You're a lucky man, Katherine is a great girl."

"Yes, she is." Elijah replied never missing a step.

Mason put his earphones again. "Well, nice to see you again, Katherine, Elijah."

Elijah and Katherine stared back as they watched Mason continue jogging. "So that's the ex-boyfriend." He whistled.

"Oh, come on," Katherine scolded him. "It doesn't mean anything, Mason and I broke up a long time ago."

"Why?"

"He was an ass." She replied quickly as she kissed him. "Come on, I'll race you."

Mason Lockwood. Katherine hadn't thought about him in a long time. Katherine stepped out of the shower and began blow drying her hair. He hadn't changed much from what she had seen at the park. He still had that same boyish smile that had made Katherine fall for him, the minute she had laid eyes on him.

Her phone rang and she answered it. "Hello?"

"Katherine? Oh, thank god you have the same number," the cheery voice answered. "It's me Mason."

"Mason." She murmured as she sat at the edge of her bed. "What's up?"

"I called to invite you to brunch tomorrow." He said chirpily.

Katherine gritted her teeth in annoyance. "I have a boyfriend, Mason."

Mason laughed. "Calm down, sheriff. I'm just inviting you as friends, to catch up."

"Oh . . . that's very nice, Mason, but I can't tomorrow . . . I have to work." She stumbled.

"On Sunday?" Mason teased. "Come on, even I know you're not that much of a workaholic. Come on, have brunch with me. Call me later to give you the address."

"Mason, I-"

He hung up.

"What?" Caroline nearly spit out her ice tea as she stared at Katherine wide eyed over her salad. "You saw that asshole Mason again? Where? When?"

"Saturday at the park, I was jogging with Elijah," Katherine replied. "And will you keep your voice down I really don't want the whole restaurant finding out."

Caroline gave her a sheepish grin as she lowered her voice. "Sorry, it's just after everything Mason put you through it amazes me that the guy still has the decency to say hi. Have you guys even spoke since you broke up?"

"No. We didn't break up," she said sounding uncertain. "We just kind of fell apart."

"Katherine!" Caroline said sounding exasperated. "You're not telling me that you prefer that spineless, controlling little coward over Elijah do you? You can't let him get into your head!"

"I'm not letting him get into my head, Caroline," Katherine hissed. "It was just weird seeing him again."

"Did Elijah talk to him?"

"Not much, they were pretty much distant." She squirmed. "The thing is that later, he called me and invited me to brunch tomorrow. Nothing romantic, just as friends. I said I would think about it."

Caroline's blue eyes narrowed dangerously towards her. "Are you insane?" she hissed. "You can't go to brunch, no matter how harmless he seems. Don't you remember what this guy put your through? How he canceled at the last minute, how he was flirting with other women when he was with you, do you really want to go through that again?"

Katherine placed down her fork. "Care, I'm not thinking about dating him. It was just weird seeing him again. Can we not talk about it, please?"

-Chapter Twenty Five-